What Happens If I Stop Paying My Credit Cards? How Do I Prepare For The Consequences?

If you have decided to stop paying credit cards because you cannot afford to pay them, for you own peace of mind you need to prepare yourself by learning more about;

How to cheaply hire a consumer rights attorney,

How respond to a credit card debt summons and why you have a good chance of winning despite the fact that you owe.

How bankruptcy would work for you, if a court judgment forced you to file for it.

How to avoid expensive debt settlement, debt negotiation, debt management and other debt relief schemes that have you paying money you do do have before you get any results.

How to prevent harassment from debt collectors

In their minds, consumer debtors know they owe the debt, so therefore fighting court action will be futile for them. But, if you prepare yourself by asking and answering “What happens if I stop paying my credit cards?” then there is a good chance that you can prevent or survive a credit card lawsuit. Consumers who cannot afford to pay their credit card debt are still entitled to due process in a court of law. Collection attorneys along with their clients expect “guilty” debtors to default and not answer a credit card summons. (They know over 93 percent do not respond.) Hence they do not prepare proper documentation to prove the consumer owes the debt. If a consumer answers the summons and challenges the poor documents furnished or the complete lack of documentation, the court could dismiss the case or the plaintiff could walk away from it. After they receive a credit card debt summons and out of guilt lots of indebted consumers fail to challenge the lack of original creditor documents in a court proceeding: the phony affidavits; the unsigned, undated contracts; and the absence of a junk debt buyer’s proof of ownership of a debt. Rules of civil procedure for the conduct of a lawsuit require someone on the plaintiff’s side with personal knowledge of a consumer’s credit card account to prepare a sworn affidavit stating the truth and accuracy of the documents submitted, “This is a true and original copy of . . . .” To streamline their operations and be more profitable, credit card companies do not keep paper records. Credit card account records are kept electronically in digital files. This makes the need for a sworn affidavit substantiating a printout of digital records even more important. According to the Consumers Union, the nonprofit publisher of Consumer Reports magazine, debt collectors are increasingly taking consumers to court without proof that they owe the debt in question, or even that the debt is valid. Consumers Union points to automated software used to file lawsuits by the thousands and the proliferation of “robo-signers” who falsely claim to review and verify debtors’ records before taking legal action. According to cardratings.com. industry insiders expect robo-signers [of affidavits of debt] to take center stage in the credit card industry.

Here is a local news report from Los Angeles Times entitled California lawsuit alleges illegal collection practices by JPMorgan Chase

She died in 1995. Yet her signature later appeared on thousands of affidavits submitted by one of the nation’s largest debt collectors{and junk debt buyer}, Portfolio Recovery Associates Inc., in lawsuits filed against borrowers.

The Wall Street Journal reported in another article “Some regulators and judges have complained that documents submitted to courts by debt collectors as proof of what a borrower owes frequently are sloppy or fraudulent. The accounts bought by debt-collection firms often lack information about the underlying debts, such as contracts or payment histories, according to judges who rule on collection cases.” The Morning Call, an Allentown, Penn. newspaper, reported a Pennsylvania appeals court threw out a debt collector’s case against a woman who allegedly owed more than $5,000 on a credit card account because the collector couldn’t vouch for the accuracy of the electronic records it presented as evidence. “The court says if everything is computerized these days, we should have some testimony as to how these records are created and stored and whether they’re protected from hackers and viruses,” said Lawrence Rubin, the defendant’s lawyer. http://www.mcall.com/news/local/allentown/mc-credit-card-debt-collection-pennsy20110221,0,6556927.story There is hope for you if you cannot pay your credit card debt. You are not doomed to a court judgment, bank account seizure, wage garnishment or perhaps bankruptcy providing that you educate yourself and prepare a plan like I did. You are welcome to read more of my pages and posts to start that process.